II Corinthians 3:18
But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from Glory to Glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.
Somehow we have come up with the idea that the main point of salvation is to transfer us from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of God. In other words, we no longer have to fear hell or eternal separation from God. While that is a huge plus....there has to be more here than that. There has to be more that follows us all our days than that one time event of being saved.
Could it be that God expects something from us after we are saved?
Missionary?
Preacher?
Sunday School Teacher?
Sing in the choir?
Start a Recovery Meeting?
Work at a Rehab?
All of those are worthy things, but that still doesn't quite fill the bill when it comes to God's plan.
So what is His plan?
To grow us up.
Grow us up until we we have a full measure of faith and maturity. In other words, until we are transformed into the complete image of our elder brother, Jesus.
Wowzers!
So how does this growth process happen?
Eat all my carrots and Brussel Sprouts?
Nope.
Exercise daily and get plenty of sleep?
Wrong-o buddy.
The growth and maturity come when I go through my trials and troubles keeping God at the center of my life and decisions that I make during the time of upheaval.
Not acting on impulse or basing my decisions on my emotions, but rather centering myself and listen for what God wants me to do.
In other words, I follow Him. I wait for Him to instruct me rather than run off in my "feelings" and get myself stuck in some "spiritual" ditch.
My wife always says, "If He ain't talking, I ain't walking."
Translated: I will continue in the last thing God told me to do, until I receive new instruction and direction from Him.
Words of wisdom from a wise lady.
Trusting God in the middle of a storm of problems and troubles increases my faith. It proves to me that God is worthy to be trusted with all my problems and not just some of them. It shows me that He has my best interest at heart even though the outcome may not look like I thought it should. But the main thing that comes out of my daily struggle, is that I should be learning more and more about myself........the good and the bad....With such knowledge, we can turn to God and ask Him to remove our character defects and replace them with His righteousness or, as I like to say, "His Right-ness."
I love the way the Message Bible states it in James 1:2-4:
Consider it a sheer gift, friends, when tests and challenges (trials and troubles) come at you from all sides. You know that under pressure, your faith-life is forced into the open and shows its true colors. So don't try to get out of anything prematurely. Let it do its work so you become mature and well developed, not deficient in any way.
Life happens in this old world.
Bad things happen to good people.....
and good things happen to bad people....
No matter what comes your way, it is an opportunity to grow in Christ and be a reflection of His goodness and love to someone else who needs to see the truth about God.
Think on these things....
God on you...
mb
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